John Feehery: Speaking Engagements

Snow Day

Posted on December 10, 2013

So, last night the weathermen all said that we could get anywhere from 2 to 5 inches in the Washington D.C. area.

Around 5 am, when it became clear that we were getting closer to 2 inches than 5 inches, the Federal Government shut down and with it most schools around the region.

We will be lucky to barely get an inch of snow in DC and it will all melt by 5 pm today.

The Federal government closes down because it might as well. Yes, people are doing something in the government, but it isn’t like they have to make a buck or worry about the bottom line. When you have an endless credit card, you don’t have to worry about missing a day of work.

After all, there’s always tomorrow.

The Federal government could have taken several different paths in the face of the mega-storm that turned out to be a rain shower.

It could have let people make their own decision if they needed to come in to work. Liberal leave policies are always a good option. It could have staggered the start times to prevent a big cluster on the roadways (although there is always a cluster on DC road ways). It could have declared national telework day for those who can work from home, while allowing staggered start times for everybody else.

Or it could have waited until the weather turned out to actually be bad before making the call.

It didn’t do any of those things, and now Federal workers, who got two weeks of paid vacation thanks to the incompetence of the Congress, now get an extra free day to hang out with their kids.

And whatever work they had to do, work regulating, taxing, spying, or otherwise telling the rest of America what do to, can be put off for another day.

Ironically, Congress, which has been able to score 10% approval ratings thanks to its inability to do anything, has somehow been able to courageously venture out in the wicked snow storm and get itself into session, where it may or may not agree to a budget that was due 6 months ago to help jumpstart the Appropriations process, which was supposed to be completed two months ago.

And you wonder why the American people are so frustrated with Washington.